1. Field
The present invention relates to a system, and an article of manufacture for bidirectional data transfer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fibre channel networks may be used in storage area networking (SAN) environments to attach servers and storage. In certain implementations, fibre channel networks may also be used to allow for peer-to-peer connections between storage devices. Fiber channel networks may be classified into a variety of topologies. In a point-to-point topology, each pair of network components are connected via dedicated links. In an arbitrated loop topology, groups of network components are connected via a loop. In a switched fabric topology, network components are connected via switches.
Certain networked information technology systems, including storage systems, may need protection from site disasters or outages. Implementations for protecting from site disasters or outages may include mirroring or copying of data in storage systems. Such mirroring or copying of data may involve interactions among hosts, storage systems and connecting networking components of the information technology system.
An enterprise storage server* (ESS) may be a disk storage server that includes one or more processors coupled to storage devices, including high capacity scalable storage devices, Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), etc. The enterprise storage servers may be connected to a network, such as a fibre channel network, and include features for copying data in storage systems. Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC) is an ESS copy function that allows the shadowing of application system data from a first site to a second site. The first site may be referred to as an application site, a local site, or a primary site. The second site may be referred to as a recovery site, a remote site, or a secondary site. In certain implementations, the first and second sites may be coupled via a PPRC link implemented via a fibre channel link coupled to a fibre channel network. *Enterprise storage server (ESS) is a trademark of IBM corporation.